October
by Escagurlie
Summary: Set years after the LOTR books when a new evil enters Middle Earth, targeting the elves. The Fellowship must unite along with the races of Middle Eartyh to defeat this new evil... but no one knows how


Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR or any of the the charas in it  
  
A/N: I've been listening to this song on kazaa for over an hour and it inspired me its an amazing piece of music. Its called Lux Aeterna or Requiem for a Dream and its played on The Two Towers Trailer. Its absolutely gorgeous! So here's my work ladies and gentlethings.  
Chapter One  
He weaved his way swiftly through the trees dodging bush, log and stone. Pushing himself further, harder and longer than he had ever before. He could hear his pursuers following him, crashing through the brush of the overgrown forest with the skill and fleetness only a being of the elven race could possess. But surely these things chasing him were not, could not, be the fair and wise elves that lived in Middle Earth for the past years.  
  
He jumped, leapt and twisted his way through the forest growing more and more tiresome. As the chase wore on, his energy began to drain. Finally, when his senses had become clouded with exhaustion, he stopped in a clearing. Doubled over, his lean figure a mere shadow in the grove he stopped in. The elf's ears tuned into the sounds of his attackers crashing through the bushes only meters away. They would seek him out and capture him if he stayed here, yet he could not go on.  
  
He winced and stood up straight as he heard his pursuers draw close to the small grove in which he stood. Slowly he drew an arrow out of his quiver and strung his bow. Seconds later his enemy emerged from shadow into the light of the clearing. He drew his bow back and fired. The arrow flew swiftly to greet the attackers yet never did it reach their skin. With lightening quickness, one of the elves snatched the arrow out of the air and crushed it in his hands.  
  
He paused then strung another and let it fly and yet again one of them caught it right out of the air. Slowly he started to back up. This could not happen. No one and nothing in Middle Earth could have the swiftness and ability to catch his arrow right from its path without being inured. Who or what was this new foe...  
  
Something behind him in the forest alerted his senses. More of them, he believed. Yet...  
  
Aragorn. He knew, after so many years of travelling with the Ranger, the sounds he made how he sounded as he walked by the way he carried himself. Only things an elf would notice but he knew it was him. He wheeled around for only a moment to warn his friend but it was a moment too long. The sound of arrows leaving their bow sung throught the night air and with the the sharp pain of each, they landed one by one with a sickening thud into the elf's body.  
  
He froze, choking out his breath in gulps as his vision began to break down into a watery view of swirling shapes and colours of the forest. Slowly he collapsed onto his knees, dimly aware of the Ranger surging into the clearing with a great shout. He lurched forward as he felt a substance rush through his veins. Poison. He knew this to be true for what else would intoxicate and choke his life off like this. He fell forward onto his hands and knees as the sound of arrows sung through the air again and then the crash of metal against metal.  
  
As the poison took over his body and mind all concious thought slipped away and he sagged under the weight which he had always carried. It was now crushing him. He was being drained of everything that was his, everything that was himself; it was all being stolen from him as his life slipped closer and closer to the edge of blackness. His breath came in gasps and he felt his life failing him.  
  
"Legolas!!"   
  
The voice calling for him was little more than a foggy whisper. His arms buckled and he collapsed on the ground, immobile and dying. And then he slipped into unconciousness.  
  
"LEGOLAS!" Aragorn shouted as he ran to his companion of many years.  
  
He fell to his knees beside him and gently rolled the elf over onto his side. His face was pale and his hands were clammy and cold. He checked his pulse, struggling to find any at all. He finally found the faintest beat. Irratic, but there all the same. Aragorn knew the elf would not last the night without great aid. he was extremely cold so he took his cloak off and wrapped the freezing body in it. He lifted one of Legolas' eyelids only to recoil in horror. His once vivid blue eyes were clouded and the whites had turned a deep charcoal black. The irises were no longer blue but a muddy shade of reddish brown.   
  
He froze and sat back from the body of his friend. He couldn't understand what could have caused this. Then his brow furrowed and he turned the elf back over on his stomach. The arrows. They were obviously of elven craftmenship but instead of the usual bright feathers and oak or ash shaft, they were dyed a deep black with a strange red feathers streaked with yellow. His eyes widened as he realized they had been died with real blood. He grasped one and pulled it out of the elf's back. It dripped with a strange acid liquid that softly hissed as the droplets hit the mossy forest floor. He frowned and pulled out the other arrows and wrapped them in an extra piece of material from his pack. He then gently put them in the pack and rolled Legolas back over.   
  
His complexion had already changed from the pale when he had ran to him to an almost greyish shadowy colour. He swiftly picked up the blonde elf and stood up. He had been scouting the area for signs of a new evil that had been rumored to be lurking in the shadows of the forest between Mirkwood and Lothlorien. A great space of area but somehow their hide-out was located in the midst of the vast land between the two elven cities. He would have to take his friend to Lothlorien but it would be a ways away and he had little time to save the elf.   
  
But no matter, it was the only choice. He had left his camp still set up when he had heard noises coming from the grove nearby so he left to investigate. He had left his horse there and it would provide the quickest way to Lothlorien so he swifty ran back to the camp, Legolas in his arms and saddled the horse. He placed the elf leaning against his horse's head as he jumped up behind him. He kicked his horse into action and tore through the woods. He couldn't help feeling a vague sense of deja vue as he remembered so many years ago when the hobbit Frodo had been stabbed and he had had to carry him to Rivendell..... Although Glorfindel had come to his aid...this time there was no one. And he was much more worried for the elf. Legolas was obviously much worse off than the hobbit had been and he had no knowledge of the poison that was running through Legolas' body.  
  
Aragorn steeled himself against the sharp wind ripping through his clothing as his horse rode on towards Lothlorien. He could only pray that Legolas would live.  
End of Chapter One  
*is slinking away* Why do I always injure Leggo.... 


End file.
